July 15, 2018

As most of my followers know I am big into helping other bloggers gain more exposure. My goal has been to grow a community of like-minded people and I am part way to my goal. I am bringing back the open call to leave a link and I’ll share it for you!!

To get a reblog you must do the following:

leave me a link to your page, and

Share this post with your followers.

Each day I’ll randomly select 3 links to reblog. I’m not sure it gets much simpler. You can leave as many links as you want and I’ll cycle this post from day-to-day so more people can jump on board.

June 12, 2018

So, I have been terrible about writing. I call myself a writer and, sometimes, even when the brain is frozen, you just gotta write. So, a quickie true story for you for no real reason–for what it’s worth.

I drive for Uber. Now, no matter where you live in the world, I’m sure you’re familiar. It’s like a taxi service without the price gouging.

When I’m driving, I keep the radio on a little known, independent radio station, here in Tucson. I like them because they’ll play anything. You’ll hear a song by the Ramones followed by a song by Louis Armstrong. Odds are you won’t like everything they play, but odds are equally likely that, if you listen long enough, you’ll hear SOME thing that you’ll like. I usually keep the volume down low if I have a customer. Big lead up for a small story.

Anyway, so this guy gets in my car the other day. He was noticeably younger than me—doubt if he was 30, yet. As typical, when a new fare jumps in I turn down the volume. So, a song comes on (“Ripple” by the Grateful Dead) and my fare says “turn it up.” Well, the customer is always right, so…

After a couple notes, he starts singing along with Jerry Garcia. Then, after a short while, he stops. I tell him, “Dude, you’re free to sing Grateful Dead in my car,” and he resumes. After a couple more notes I join him. We end up singing the whole song and after it’s over we laugh and thank each other. Hey, it helped kill the time and next thing we knew, I had him home from a long day’s work. As he got out of my car, we shared a high five.

Moral of the story? Probably isn’t one. You just never know who you’re going to meet. Thanks for reading/listening.

There is now a shop front on the website if you want copies of my books sent directly to you, personally signed to you or your loved ones. There is also a silver pendant that’s available to match the design that runs through the books.

April 23, 2018

So, over the last ten days or so I’ve posted album covers without explanations. That was the rule as set forth by someone who started the whole thing in facebook. However, this isn’t facebook and I haven’t been blogging much so i figured why not?

The ten covers posted were not necessarily my ten most favorite albums of all time though all ten probably fall somewhere in the top fifty. But each of them represent some sort of first for me, so I’m going to do a quick blurb on each of the ten to explain their particular meaning to me. Since blogs are supposed to stay short, I’ll do it over three days.

Yes, I know this is self serving, but I haven’t been writing and I had to think of something. Apologies to all, but hopefully there will be some who find this of some interest.

8) Frank Zappa— Overnight Sensation. Now, this one is a bit of a cheat. I suppose you’d put FZ and the Mothers of Invention into the avant garde, but with a humorous twist, category. The cheat part is, this isn’t the FZ album that turned me on to him. My first two were “Just Another band from LA,” and “Sheik Yerbouti,” both of which are live albums. This was Frank’s first studio album that turned me on.

9) Rusted Root— When I Woke. Before we were lovers, my significant other had given me a couple of the songs from this (their debut) album. Since then, I’ve played this disc countless times. If you ever get a chance to see RR in concert, do so. You’ll dance your ass off, even if you’re not a dancer. (I have numerous times, and I’m not).

10) Richard Thompson— Across a crowded Room. Some time in the middle ’90’s RT usurped Jethro Tull as my favorite musical artist. This may not be his best album, but it was the one that turned me on to him.

And there you have it, for what it’s worth. 10 album covers by 10 artists that have influenced me and my reasons for choosing them. Thanks for taking the time to read. Peace to all.